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Evaluation ViewAttendees 6

Adult - Anxiety
Session Type:: Symposia

Symposium 40 - Understanding and Treating Anxiety in Real-World Contexts

Saturday, November 22, 2025
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM CST
Location: Celestin D&E, Level 3
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Anxiety, Community-Based, Translational Research
Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate
Recommended Readings: Luoma, J.B., Chwyl, C. Interpersonal mechanisms for the maintenance of self-criticism: Expressive suppression, emotion expression, and self-concealment. Curr Psychol 41, 4027–4040 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00920-z,   Elizabeth T. Slivjak, Eric J. Pedersen, Joanna J. Arch,
Evaluating the efficacy of common humanity-enhanced exposure for socially anxious young adults,
Journal of Anxiety Disorders,
Volume 87, 2022, 102542,
ISSN 0887-6185, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102542.,   Cohen ZD, Schueller SM. Expanding, improving, and understanding behaviour research and therapy through digital mental health. Behav Res Ther. 2023 Aug;167:104358. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2023.104358. Epub 2023 Jun 19. PMID: 37418857.,   ,  

Consonant with this year’s conference theme of expanding the scope of cognitive-behavioral therapies to improve outcomes for historically underrepresented populations by adapting to contextual factors, our presentations focus on understanding and treating anxiety disorders in real-world contexts, including tailoring interventions to the needs of diverse community members. Our collective research spans intensive modeling of anxiety dynamics in a myriad of daily contexts to behavioral interventions that are co-designed with community partners underserved by behavioral therapy to date. First, Jolie Ho will present results from an ecological momentary assessment study of diverse undergraduates, examining how fears of receiving compassion may contribute to safety behavior use in the naturalistic social interactions of socially anxious individuals. Second, Dr. Jason Luoma will present findings from a daily diary study examining the dynamic effects of social approach motivation on social anxiety symptoms, highlighting variability in motivation as a potential factor underlying symptom severity. Third, Nate Choukas will present findings from a community-engaged partnership examining how to best implement digital therapy to treat anxiety and other common disorders in a community college setting. Fourth, Benjamin Giber will present results from a study modeling hour-to-hour relationships between self-compassion, perceived stress, and anxiety in ecological momentary assessment data collected in a population of stressed adults. Finally, Alane Schmelkin will present research on a community co-designed and peer-led exposure workshop to alleviate social anxiety among diverse undergraduates, providing data to support this novel treatment approach. Dr. Joanna Arch, a leading researcher on interventions for anxiety disorders, stress, and coping with cancer, will serve as the discussant. In summary, this symposium showcases five studies that aim to broaden our understanding of anxiety and stress in a myriad of real-world contexts and to adapt novel treatments to expand access and improve efficacy in diverse populations. This collective work expands our knowledge of how anxiety manifests in real-world contexts and of how leveraging community partnerships to improve care in contextually sensitive ways provides a promising avenue for interventions that reduce the burden of anxiety disorders.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Describe how scalable digital or peer-led interventions can address existing gaps in our treatment of anxiety disorders in diverse populations.
  2. Describe promising intervention targets in anxiety disorders that have dynamic, day-to-day effects on the severity of symptoms.
  3. Explain how community involvement and co-design approaches can help to inform intervention development and implementation.
  4. Gain a conceptual understanding of potential barriers to disseminating digital therapies in diverse community college populations.
  5. Appreciate the strengths and limitations of daily diary and ecological momentary assessment modeling approaches.

Presentations:

  • 3:35 PM - 3:52 PM CST
    (SYM 40) Dynamics of State Self-compassion, State Anxiety, and Behavioral Avoidance

    Speaker: Benjamin Giber, M.A. – The University of Colorado at Boulder

    Co-author: Lauren Finkelstein, MA (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado Boulder

    Co-author: Elizabeth Slivjak, M.A. (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado

    Co-author: Joanna Arch, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado Boulder

  • 3:52 PM - 4:09 PM CST
    (SYM 40) Pilot Trial on the Contribution of Peer Leaders and Self-compassion to Group Exposure Workshops for Socially Anxious Undergraduates

    Speaker: Alane S. Burger, M.A. (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado Boulder

    Co-author: Alane S. Burger, M.A. (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado Boulder

    Co-author: Mateo Chavez, MS – University of Colorado Boulder

    Co-author: Lauren Finkelstein, MA (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado Boulder

    Co-author: Elizabeth Slivjak, M.A. (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado

    Co-author: Joanna Arch, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado Boulder

  • 4:09 PM - 4:26 PM CST
    (SYM 40) Expanding Access to Mental Healthcare Through Community-engaged Research: Adapting Rainfrog Digital Therapy for Pima County Community College Students

    Speaker: Nathaniel R. Choukas, B.S. (he/him/his) – University of Arizona, Department of Psychology

    Speaker: Torsa Chattoraj, MA (she/her/hers) – U Arizona

    Co-author: Julia S. Yarrington, Ph.D. – University of Arizona

    Co-author: Angela V. White, B.S. – University of Arizona, Department of Psychology

    Co-author: Jon Logan-Rung, M.F.A. (he/him/his) – University of Arizona, Department of Psychology

    Co-author: Ashley Bohan (she/her/hers) – University of Arizona, Department of Psychology

    Co-author: Robyn Stea, B.a. (she/her/hers) – University of Arizona, Department of Psychology

    Co-author: Ella Salem (she/her/hers) – University of Arizona, Department of Psychology

    Co-author: Zachary Cohen, Ph.D. – University of Arizona

  • 4:26 PM - 4:43 PM CST
    (SYM 40) Keeping Others at Arm's Length: Ecological Momentary Assessment of Fears of Receiving Compassion and Safety Behaviour Use in Naturalistic, Daily Social Interactions of Socially Anxious Individuals

    Speaker: Jolie Ho, M.A., M.S. – University of Waterloo

  • 4:43 PM - 5:00 PM CST
    (SYM 40) The Daily Dance of Desire: Social Motivation in Social Anxiety Disorder

    Speaker: Jason Luoma, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Portland Psychotherapy Clinic, Research, & Training Center

    Co-author: M. Kati Lear, PhD (she/her/hers) – Portland Institute for Psychedelic Science

    Co-author: Christina Chwyl, PhD (she/her/hers) – Portland Psychotherapy